Published: Wednesday, 13th January, 2010 5:30pm

Flooding hits new €1.5m Hodson Bay watersports centre

A €1.5 million boat training and watersports centre which was only opened last June in Hodson Bay was hit by the recent floods, it has emerged.

The centre, developed by Roscommon County Council and Fáilte Ireland, was flooded with up to two to three inches of water.

However, both the council and the operator have described the damage as minimal and insist flood defence preparations helped to minimise the effects.

John O'Rourke, a Senior Engineer in Roscommon County Council said this week he was "reasonably happy" that flood risk measures minimised water damage and their "investment was protected".

Although the car park was flooded and water entered the council-owned building to about two or three inches, Mr O'Rourke said steps taken during the building of the facility, a first of its kind in the Midlands, lessened the extent of the water damage.

The Baysports Hodson Bay Boat Training and Watersports Centre is operated by local man Richie O'Hara, and offers a myriad of water-based activities and training including sailing, sail training, kayaking, powerboating, windsurfing canoeing, dinghy sailing and angling, all tailored for different age groups from primary-school children to adults.

"The highest ever water level before this occurred two and half years ago during the development of the building," Mr O'Rourke said. "At that stage we raised the floor level ten inches above the highest levels recorded, but unfortunately that was exceeded in November," he said.

However, a second flood risk step taken at that time helped matters as Mr O'Rourke, added describing how the floors were treated to protect against the effects of water, along with fact the development was constructed to accommodate water-based activities and people bringing a certain amount of water in to the premises.

"Although the water did get in two or three inches because the floor was treated we minimised the damage the water would do. We are reasonably happy that the two steps taken worked. It does require some cleaning out," he added, work that is being complicated at the minute by the frosty conditions.

The treating of the floor involved putting a waterproof membrane on the floor, while also turning up the skirting board so that there is no joint between the floor and it is sealed. "We are happy that the steps we took to manage the risk worked," he reiterated.

Speaking of the situation Operator of Baysports Richie O'Hara said this week: "Obviously, the flooding is a setback but at this time of year, the nature of our activities mean there was little or nothing happening. At the same time, we had a sailing course running until mid-November when it came to a halt as the weather deteriorated.

"We are hoping to run courses at weekends again starting in March," he pointed out, highlighting that the bulk of the activity at the facility is centred around the summer season.

Thankfully, he said the damage caused at Baysports was "minimal", and the measures taken to raise the level of the floor "made a huge difference" with some cleaning and repainting now be required to bring the facility back in to use.